help overflowing tank

[jagwire]

hi all quick question for ya

i have been building a nano using a 10 gallon and built a 6 gallon sump for it.

i was runnin a water test and noticed that as the water went down the durso standpipe it was making a sucking noise. i drilled a whole in the top of the cap and this slowed the water down and made it so the pump pushed alot more water into the tank than the standpipe was putting into the sump therefore overflowed the tank.

so what would be the easiest way to fix this problem???? it was working quite well before the whole was drilled into the standpipe!!!

its a 10galllon aga tank
a 6 gallon acrylic sump with 4 baffles
and a mag 7 for a return

any help explanations or ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

[james734]

What's the size of the standpipe? IE: 3/4" etc.

 

[mmkeeper]

You could use a ball valve to adjust the return flow rate

 

[trido]

You will need to choke the pump back to match the drain capacity of the overflow or buy a smaller pump.
Here is a link to standpipe drain rates http://dslinux.dyndns.org/~denise/aquarium/DIYPlumbing/futureindex.html#drilling

 

[returnofsid]

Could be that the hole you drilled is too large. Try putting a piece of tape over the hole and then poking a smaller hole in the tape. If this fixes the problem, you know the hole is too large and can make adjustments.

 

[theJ]

or you could put a piece of tape over the big hole, and poke a hole through the tape. or something less crappy, i know that wont hold for long. but the idea of choking the standpipe off to me would be less hassle

***wow i just noticed i posted almost the exact same post as returnofsid posted on your thread in the DIY forum

 

[Reefdaddy1]

U*se a John guest ball valve in the hole you drilled. It will adjust the flow enough for you to prevent the overflow.

 

[trido]

or you could put a piece of tape over the big hole, and poke a hole through the tape. or something less crappy, i know that wont hold for long. but the idea of choking the standpipe off to me would be less hassle

IMO this is not a good quick fix. The stand pipe will allow only a certain amount of water to freely pass through into the sump. By restricting the air into the stand pipe (with tape or any other half measure, are guaranteed to fail sooner rather than later) you are creating a siphon pulling extra water into the stand pipe increasing its flow. This will cause the stand pipe to surge and as the water in the over flow runs dry the stand pipe will suck huge amount of air and gurgle like crazy. Defeating the whole purpose the standpipe was even created to begin with.

The only real way to fix this problem is to match the pump to the bulkhead size or choke the existing pump back with a ball valve. Plumbing resolutions fixed half way are a good recipe for a flood. Or worse yet, a burned out pump because the flood caused it to run dry all day while you were at work. PVC is cheap in the big scheme of this hobby.

I just reread the initial post and picked this out.. and a mag 7 for a return This is a pretty big return pump for a ten gallon tank. What size is the bulkhead for the overflow?

 

[theJ]

i like the idea of a mini ball valve in the hole drilled into the standpipe. it would look hackerish too

 

[Reefergeorge]

redirect some flow back into the sump with a ball valve. I pass the redirected water through my uv.

 

[moortim]

I agree on the mag 7 being too much, I use a mag 9.5 on my 55 and I have to throttle it back. You are just pushing too much water for the overflow to keep up with. Either put in a ball valve and slow down the flow or get a smaller pump.

Tim

 

[Reefergeorge]

In the other post someone said it was createing a siphon and pulling extra water, not a good thing. I personally would leave the hole and either downsize the return, or make a loop off the return tube and put a ball valve on it and adjust it till you get you desired flow and any extra will simply return to the sump. good luck

 

[jagwire]

thanks all for the quick replys

i have added a ball valve on the return and that seems to be workin but i hate the idea of slowin the flow down.

anyway i have done alot of reading on the durso standpipe and cannot ever remember reading anything about when drilling the whole to get rid of the gurgle sound that it will slow down your flow. this is certinitly a lesson learned and hope it might help someone else out as well

 

[jagwire]

thanks all

added ball valve to slow the flow. hated to do so but it got the job done!

 

[returnofsid]

I've actually used the tape over the hole method and it's worked very well for a very long time with no failure at all. I started out trying it just to see if the hole in the standpipe being too large was the cause of my problem. I'd planned on getting a new plug and drilling a smaller hole if I could conclude that was the problem. The tape worked...I never got around to getting a new plug and it's been taped for a long time now with no problems whatsoever.

 

[NaH2O]

*merged the duplicate threads into one...*

 

[Reefergeorge]

I don't know if there is any truth to, but I was told by someone that if you just put a ball valve in and close it a little it will make the pump work harder than it has to (higher electrical current, shorter life)